Como Conference

Last updated
Picture at the conference venue. Volta Physics Conference at Como, Italy 1927.png
Picture at the conference venue.

The International Congress of Physicists (Italian : Congresso internazionale dei fisici), better known as the Como Conference or the Volta Conference, was an international academic conference held from 11 to 27 September 1927, near Lake Como, Italy as part of a series of celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Alessandro Volta. [1] This conference inspired the Volta Congresses held in Rome and organized since 1931.

Contents

It concerned the topic of Volta's work and quantum mechanics. It gathered 61 physicists and mathematicians from all over the world. During the conference, Niels Bohr first introduced the principle of complementarity. The first quantum theory of metals was also discussed through the works of Arnold Sommerfeld and Enrico Fermi.

Organization

The conference was part of the Volta centennial anniversary celebrations (Italian : Celebrazioni voltiane  [ it ]) ordered by the government of Benito Mussolini. [2]

The physics conference was organized by the Italian Physical Society. The program was organized by Quirino Majorana, president of the society. [3] He was joined by Hendrik Lorentz, Aimé Cotton, Robert Andrews Millikan, Max von Laue and Giancarlo Vallauri as vicepresidents of the congress. [4]

The first four days were dedicated to works related to Volta, and the rest of the time was reserved for the topic of matter and radiation. [3] The venue was the Carducci Institute at Como. [4] Due to the presence of Guglielmo Marconi, many of the discussions were broadcast via radio. [4]

During the conference, Mussolini hosted a reception with the participants in Rome, [5] [6] in his residence at Villa Torlonia. [7]

Topics

Bohr's complementarity

On the 16th September, Niels Bohr presented a seminal lecture titled "The Quantum Postulate and the Recent Development of Atomic Theory" that introduced the principle of complementarity. [8] Bohr argued that phenomena at the quantum level exhibit a dual nature—wave–particle duality—but these aspects are excluded of being observed simultaneously. [1]

Oskar Klein and Bohr's brother Harald, helped him prepare the speech. [9] The idea was motivated by a discussion in February-March with Werner Heisenberg, who had recently introduced the uncertainty principle. [1] [9] For Bohr, these two principles were key for the new quantum mechanics. [1] The complementarity principle became the essence of what would become the Copenhagen interpretation, the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics. [1] [10]

Hendrik Lorentz praised Bohr's clarity of the presentation but regretted that there was not enough time for discussions. [3] The same speech was repeated in October during the 5th Solvay Conference, and became part of the Bohr–Einstein debates. [1]

Quantum theory of metals

During the conference, Arnold Sommerfeld presented the free electron model for metals, which extended the classical Drude model by introducing the recently introduced Fermi statistics and Fermi gas model. [11] [12] [13] These results boosted Enrico Fermi's reputation outside Italy. [14] [6]

Participants

The list of physicists that attended included nine of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics, two Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry, and various founders of quantum mechanics. [4] Physicist Franco Rasetti and others have referred to the list as the Almanach de Gotha of physics. [13] [14] The full list includes: [15] [4]

Other invited scientists

Albert Einstein did not participate due to his opposition to Mussolini's regime. [2] [4] James Franck wanted also to cancel due to political reasons but he had accepted before knowing that Mussolini would be receiving them. [5] Sommerfeld also expressed reservation in attending, but went to the conference anyway. [16]

In in his biography, Emilio Segrè says that he and Franco Rasetti were not invited but entered the lectures anyway. [6] The meetings convinced Segrè to switch careers from engineering to physics. [6]

Some letters suggest that Satyendra Nath Bose might have been invited to the conference, but by error his invitation was sent to Debendra M. Bose. [1] This claim has been contested as S. N. Bose's work was less well known at that time. [17] [18]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Heisenberg was listed as "Copenhagen, Denmark" even if he was coming from Leipzig. [5]

Related Research Articles

The Copenhagen interpretation is a collection of views about the meaning of quantum mechanics, stemming from the work of Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born, and others. While "Copenhagen" refers to the Danish city, the use as an "interpretation" was apparently coined by Heisenberg during the 1950s to refer to ideas developed in the 1925–1927 period, glossing over his disagreements with Bohr. Consequently, there is no definitive historical statement of what the interpretation entails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enrico Fermi</span> Italian-American physicist (1901–1954)

Enrico Fermi was an Italian and naturalized American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and the "architect of the atomic bomb". He was one of very few physicists to excel in both theoretical physics and experimental physics. Fermi was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity by neutron bombardment and for the discovery of transuranium elements. With his colleagues, Fermi filed several patents related to the use of nuclear power, all of which were taken over by the US government. He made significant contributions to the development of statistical mechanics, quantum theory, and nuclear and particle physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niels Bohr</span> Danish physicist (1885–1962)

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Dirac</span> English theoretical physicist (1902–1984)

Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English mathematical and theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for both quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a professor of physics at Florida State University and a 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics recipient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Heisenberg</span> German theoretical physicist (1901–1976)

Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the Nazi nuclear weapons program during World War II. He published his Umdeutung paper in 1925, a major reinterpretation of old quantum theory. In the subsequent series of papers with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, during the same year, his matrix formulation of quantum mechanics was substantially elaborated. He is known for the uncertainty principle, which he published in 1927. Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the creation of quantum mechanics".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Pauli</span> Austrian physicist (1900–1958)

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his "decisive contribution through his discovery of a new law of Nature, the exclusion principle or Pauli principle". The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter.

An interpretation of quantum mechanics is an attempt to explain how the mathematical theory of quantum mechanics might correspond to experienced reality. Quantum mechanics has held up to rigorous and extremely precise tests in an extraordinarily broad range of experiments. However, there exist a number of contending schools of thought over their interpretation. These views on interpretation differ on such fundamental questions as whether quantum mechanics is deterministic or stochastic, local or non-local, which elements of quantum mechanics can be considered real, and what the nature of measurement is, among other matters.

In physics, a correspondence principle is any one of several premises or assertions about the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics. The physicist Niels Bohr coined the term in 1920 during the early development of quantum theory; he used it to explain how quantized classical orbitals connect to quantum radiation. Modern sources often use the term for the idea that the behavior of systems described by quantum theory reproduces classical physics in the limit of large quantum numbers: for large orbits and for large energies, quantum calculations must agree with classical calculations. A "generalized" correspondence principle refers to the requirement for a broad set of connections between any old and new theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ehrenfest</span> Austrian and Dutch theoretical physicist (1880–1933)

Paul Ehrenfest was an Austrian theoretical physicist who made major contributions to statistical mechanics and its relation to quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition and the Ehrenfest theorem. He befriended Albert Einstein on a visit to Prague in 1912 and became a professor in Leiden, where he frequently hosted Einstein. He died by murder-suicide in 1933, killing his disabled son, Wassik, and then himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Sommerfeld</span> German theoretical physicist (1868–1951)

Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical physics. He served as doctoral supervisor and postdoc supervisor to seven Nobel Prize winners and supervised at least 30 other famous physicists and chemists. Only J. J. Thomson's record of mentorship offers a comparable list of high-achieving students. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize 84 times, more than any other physicist, becoming the most nominated person to never win the Nobel Prize.

In physics, complementarity is a conceptual aspect of quantum mechanics that Niels Bohr regarded as an essential feature of the theory. The complementarity principle holds that certain pairs of complementary properties cannot all be observed or measured simultaneously. For example, position and momentum or wave and particle properties. In contemporary terms, complementarity encompasses both the uncertainty principle and wave-particle duality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Kramers</span> Dutch physicist (1894–1952)

Hendrik Anthony "Hans" Kramers was a Dutch physicist who worked with Niels Bohr to understand how electromagnetic waves interact with matter and made important contributions to quantum mechanics and statistical physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Heitler</span> German physicist (1904–1981)

Walter Heinrich Heitler was a German physicist who made contributions to quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory. He brought chemistry under quantum mechanics through his theory of valence bonding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solvay Conference</span> Belgium academic gatherings since 1911

The Solvay Conferences have been devoted to preeminent unsolved problems in both physics and chemistry. They began with the historic invitation-only 1911 Solvay Conference on Physics, considered a turning point in the world of physics, and are ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Landé</span> German-American physicist

Alfred Landé was a German-American physicist known for his contributions to quantum theory. He is responsible for the Landé g-factor and an explanation of the Zeeman effect.

Wilhelm Lenz was a German physicist, most notable for his invention of the Ising model, and for his application of the Laplace–Runge–Lenz vector to the old quantum mechanical treatment of hydrogen-like atoms.

B. Adolf Kratzer was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions to atomic physics and molecular physics, and was an authority on molecular band spectroscopy. He was born in Günzburg and died in Münster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Eckart</span> American geophysicist and administrator (1902–1973)

Carl Henry Eckart was an American physicist, physical oceanographer, geophysicist, and administrator. He co-developed the Wigner–Eckart theorem and is also known for the Eckart conditions in quantum mechanics, the Eckart–Young theorem in linear algebra., and his work on non-equilibrium thermodynamics and continuum mechanics, including a relativistic treatment

Edwin Crawford Kemble was an American physicist who made contributions to the theory of quantum mechanics and molecular structure and spectroscopy. During World War II, he was a consultant to the Navy on acoustic detection of submarines and to the Army on Operation Alsos.

The Volta Congress was the name given to each of the international conferences on various topics held in Rome, Italy by the Royal Academy of Italy and funded by the Alessandro Volta Foundation. They were established in 1930 by initiative of the Società Generale Italiana Edison di Elettricità. The fifth congress was influential in the development of aerodynamics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lahti, Pekka; Mittelstaedt, Peter (1988-02-01). Symposium On The Foundations Of Modern Physics 1987 - The Copenhagen Interpretation 60 Years After The Como Lecture. World Scientific. ISBN   978-981-320-170-5.
  2. 1 2 Grünberg, Hans-Hennig von; Griffiths, Alex (2024). 1924-1927: The Dawning of Quantum Mechanics. Springer Nature. ISBN   978-3-662-70045-7.
  3. 1 2 3 Pancaldi, Giuliano (2018-06-05). Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-18861-4.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Giliberti, Marco; Lovisetti, Luisa (2024). Old Quantum Theory and Early Quantum Mechanics: A Historical Perspective Commented for the Inquiring Reader. Springer Nature. ISBN   978-3-031-57934-9.
  5. 1 2 3 Lemmerich, Jost; Hentschel, Ann (2011-08-10). Science and Conscience: The Life of James Franck. Stanford University Press. ISBN   978-0-8047-6310-3.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Segrè, Emilio (2019-08-17). A Mind Always in Motion: The Autobiography of Emilio Segrè. Plunkett Lake Press.
  7. ↑ Raboy, Marc (2016-06-28). Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-931360-0.
  8. ↑ Various (2014-02-13). The Quantum Theory and Particle Physics collection. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-102542-6.
  9. 1 2 Various (2014-02-13). The Quantum Theory and Particle Physics collection. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0-19-102542-6.
  10. ↑ Bayın, Selçuk Ş (2023-06-18). The Pursuit of Reality: Narrative History of the Quantum and the Great Minds That Made it. Springer Nature. ISBN   978-981-99-1031-1.
  11. ↑ Mehra, Jagdish; Rechenberg, Helmut (2001). The Historical Development of Quantum Theory. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-0-387-95180-5.
  12. ↑ Eckert, Michael (2013-06-24). Arnold Sommerfeld: Science, Life and Turbulent Times 1868-1951. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-1-4614-7461-6.
  13. 1 2 Bernardini, Carlo; Bonolis, Luisa (2013-11-11). Enrico Fermi: His Work and Legacy. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-3-662-01160-7.
  14. 1 2 Bruzzaniti, Giuseppe (2016-03-21). Enrico Fermi: The Obedient Genius. Springer. ISBN   978-1-4939-3533-8.
  15. ↑ Atti del congresso internazionale dei fisici : 11-20 settembre 1927, 5., Como, Pavia, Roma. Vol. 1. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. 1928.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. ↑ Eckert, Michael (2013-06-24). Arnold Sommerfeld: Science, Life and Turbulent Times 1868-1951. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   978-1-4614-7461-6.
  17. ↑ Rajinder Singh, Celebrating 125th birth anniversary of DM Bose - Invitation to the Como conference, Science and Culture 76, 494-501, 2010.
  18. ↑ Rajinder Singh: D.M. Bose - His scientific work in international context, Shaker Publisher, Aachen 2016. DM Bose Scientific work
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.